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‘Husker Hospitality Posted by NorthDallasSooner on November 8th, 2009 under Football I haven’t been everywhere, that’s for sure. I’ve been to Norman, Stillwater, Austin, College Station, the Hilltop, TCU, Boulder, Eugene, U-Dub, Lubbock, Blacksburg and four BCS title games. Notwithstanding my favorite day of the year in October at the Cotton Bowl, Lincoln, Nebraska this weekend was hands down the best game day experience and fans I’ve ever been part of. That place and those fans are TERRIFIC. If you’re an alum of a Big XII school, or anybody else that plays Nebraska, you have to go. First of all, OU-Nebraska is a very different kind of rivalry. It helps as a fan on the road that your hosts LOVE your school, history and program. The ‘Husker faithful clearly believe that the football programs at Oklahoma and Nebraska are inextricably linked. They’re linked by their history, by all the Big 8 championships won the week before or of Thanksgiving in Norman and Lincoln and the Odd Couple relationship of Osborne and Switzer. I’m fortunate that my work responsibilities include the Nebraska market, so I had the advantage of having guys I know and like looking after me. Combined with a good friend here in Big D who grew up in Lincoln and I got the Chamber of Commerce treatment from the home folks. But, given the experience I had, I doubt any Sooner who showed up in Lincoln yesterday had any different than the fantastic treatment I experienced. So, the day….. Drove down from Omaha, a fun town in its own rite. First stop, Barry’s. The irony of a Lincoln game day icon being called Barry’s put an instant smile on my face. Go in, get the beers rolling and we’re off. Kinda hungry though, so I ask the waitress for a menu. Do you remember the diner scene in “My Cousin Vinny?” When Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei sit down at the counter and the menu says “Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner.” So, she brings the “menu.” It reads “Hamburger. Chicken sandwich. Hot dog.” Oh, there are a few other things, but it was pretty funny. Typical campus-side beer bar. Next stop was the unique one. Three or four blocks from the stadium there’s a place call Sidetracks. Any fellow Dallasites over 40 will remember a famous joint from the ‘70s and ‘80s called Bowley and Wilson’s. This place has been there for a couple generations, I gather, and is a local institution. It’s owned by a lady that’s about 65-70 years old. She’s the one on the piano on the stage. She the center of a band singing irreverent derivations of famous songs, along with some Nebraska school songs, etc… The biggest smile I got was the rendition of “Keep away from Ndomakong (sp?) Suh” to Runaround Sue. Good stuff. But two things happened there that you’d almost never get anywhere else. A BIG Husker dude taps me on the chest and says “Everyone being good to you?” You’ll never get that in Boulder or outside the Cotton Bowl. Then the lady that owns the joint welcomed all the Sooners and said, pointing to the projection screen on the wall, “When Oklahoma is playing on this screen, we root for Oklahoma! Unless it’s against Nebraska” That is exactly what’s unique about the Oklahoma-Nebraska rivalry. It’s a love fest. Back to Sidetracks. More funny tunes, $7.50 pitchers, the NU Alumni band coming through and two hours later, time to head to the tailgates. Every person we walked past offered a beer, food, an invitation to join. We ended up at our appointed spot, and the couple that was hosting it made us feels like we were guests in their home. “Get a drink, have some food, what’cha think of Lincoln, come back after the game.” They couldn’t have been nicer. In to the game. We were in a Nebraska section. Everyone welcomed us, was very cool and I can tell you there is absolutely no trash talking at all. Very refreshing because I think trash talk is the BANE of the sports world today. The game sucked, of course, to a Sooner diehard. At halftime, they hosted an on field meeting of Sooner and ‘Husker legends. The ‘Husker fans cheered every former Sooner on the field. Owens, Sims, White, Bradford, Greg Pruitt, Tom Berhany and Joe C. Then, LOUD applause and a standing ovation for Barry Switzer. I know enough Nebraska folks to know that Switzer is an icon in Nebraska. They love the guy. I think he represents the rebel that none of them are but kind of like to watch vicariously. Really cool. Afterward, with a win in hand, do you think any ‘Husker fan’s behavior toward the vanquished changed? Nope. No trash talk. No “in your face.” No crap at all. The bars were packed and everyone was cool as hell to us. The only negative was trying to snare a cab at 1AM (bars close at 1).Total, total, I would advise any fan to go do the Lincoln thing. It was truly great. Those people are fantastic and I will definitely go back. Hopefully with a better team. |